Objective: To characterize trends in meat consumption, and verify the percentage of excessive red and processed meat consumption in the last decade in São Paulo, Brazil.
Design: Cross-sectional weighted data from the Health Survey for São Paulo, conducted in São Paulo, Brazil among people aged 12 years and older.
Setting: Diet was assessed by two 24-hour recalls in each survey. Usual meat consumption was estimated by Multiple Source Method. Wald tests were used to compare means across survey years. Data were collected from adolescents, adults, and elderly using a representative, complex, multistage probability-based survey in 2003 and in 2008 in São Paulo, southeast of Brazil.
Subjects: 2631 Brazilians were studied in 2003 and 1662 in 2008.
Results: Daily mean of red and processed meat consumption was 100 g/day in 2003, and 113 g/day in 2008. Excessive red and processed meat consumption was observed in almost 75% of the subjects, especially among adolescents in both surveys. Beef represented the largest proportion of meat consumed, followed by poultry, pork and fish in both surveys.
Conclusions: Daily red and processed meat consumption was higher in 2008 than in 2003, and almost the entire population consumed more than what is recommended by World Cancer Research Fund. Public health strategies are needed, in order to reduce red and processed meat consumption to the recommended amounts, for a healthy diet.